Johnny took me on a "mystery trip" for our 37th wedding anniversary! He did tell me where we were going, though, just before we left the house because he said that I'm his navigator. Well, he had a certain road in mind "to make the trip shorter". Yeah, you probably already know what that means! We finally reached Jaguariaíva where we spent the night at a hotel. The next day we met up with Mário and Juliana who are Brazilian missionaries there. They took us to see some waterfalls in the area... I thought Johnny was on vacation but...what was I thinking? Of COURSE he preached at their church that night! We spent the night there then the next morning headed back home. This time we went the more-travelled route. Only took 4 hours instead of 6, yay. Here are some scenes along the way...
0 Comments
On July 22 we made a trip 6 hrs to the north of us. Or rather, it was supposed to take 6 but it took us an hour or so longer because we got lost in one city... In Boituva we stayed with Pastor Lúcio, his wife Claudinéia and their little girl, Ruth, at their house out in the country. Went for a walk one morning in the neighborhood, such lovely sights... A Family Conference was held at their church that weekend. Johnny preached 5 times, I taught the ladies' S.S. class. We had some of our meals at church members' homes. On Sunday we were at Pastor Ernesto's home, located on the top floor of the church. (Please click on the dessert picture to see it better!) We were taken to a couple tourist spots while we were in Boituva. This is at a park where there were also some small animals. Boituva is known as the parachuting capital of Latin America because of the ideal wind situation there. All told, it was a very good trip (except for getting lost going there) and we hurried home on Monday so we could get ready to leave on Tuesday for our next trip! Stay tuned...
I'd about completed a post about one of our July trips, but it got lost-zap!-just like that. Then I remembered that I hadn't told about the Curitiba ladies' meeting anyway, so figured I may as well write about that before I try for the trip posts again (thus, the "ladies first" title). Maybe I can finish this one before it gets zapped. Maybe.
OK, so on July 16, about 167 ladies from several of our area churches gathered at Calvary Baptist Church to have our 3-times-a-year get together. Here are a few pictures from that. Just pass your mouse over each one to see the caption for it. On July 6-8 our 7th annual music conference was held at the Bible College. Over 90 people attended, many of those coming from neighboring states. There were many different music specials presented... ...and much learning by singing was done. One of the highlights of these conferences is the availability of...
Within the past 6 weeks we and our Baptist Mid-Missions missionary family has felt the loss of 3 of our missionaries: Lois McLain (May 27), Harold Reiner (June 27) and Elva Barber (June 9). We personally knew each of these, having worked in the same area with them for 24 years in Northeast Brazil. Each one was a blessing, inspiration and example to us and we are so thankful for the privilege we had of knowing them!
These 3 missionaries "finished the course" that the Lord gave them to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel". May we all be faithful to the end as they were! So. What does weather have to do with our missionary life and work??? you may ask. Well, quite a bit sometimes. It can raise or lower our motivation level, it can affect church attendance, it can determine whether we'll go do something that involves being outdoors...But I don't need to explain all this to you, you already know these things. No matter what country you're in, weather is a determining factor for many things! At least it gives us something to talk about, hey? It probably did not make the main headlines in the United States, but this week there were record-breaking low temperatures in many places in different areas of Brazil, not just here in the south. As to be expected, there were different reports, but I kept hearing "2 degrees below zero". Seeing as how 2 of the 4 weather sites I regularly check also said that, well, let's just go with that figure. Makes it more interesting, right? And lest you think that I'm talking about Farenheight, be assured that I'm talking about Celsius. But hey, that's still cold! For those who don't want to bother to check your metric measurements, -2 degrees is 28.4. It had been at least 10 years since it had gotten that cold here in this area. I did not take many pictures during those days so I am going to post some that I found at noticias.terra.com.br We know that the Lord is in control of the weather, we are thankful for that. And at the same time we admire His beautiful creation
Last month Johnny's Analysis of Exodus & Leviticus class at the Bible College studied the tabernacle in depth. A realistic model of the tabernacle (made by missionary George Wells several years ago) was set up in the foyer of the "C.A. Nickels building" to facilitate this interesting study. On the day of the more dramatized, hands-on study, they were organized into the twelve tribes, with each tribe having a leader and banner. Thus, they marched into the area of the tabernacle... They were placed according to the tribes around the north, south, east and west sides of it. Then some detailed explaining was given by the professor, Pastor "João Lee"... to know more about each piece of furniture... its structure... ...and the meaning of the types and colors of the materials of the covering. This was an enjoyable, profitable and rich study for Johnny and his 18 students.
Our church young people joined many others from the surrounding area churches for a day of fellowship, fun and food on May 21st. We're proud of and thankful for our bunch! "Captain Guto" and his wife, Márcia, are their leaders. There was a service first with preaching and special singing, then it was time for a picnic lunch. Yes, on the ground with the food spread out on a blanket. Thankfully, there aren't many ants around here! After lunch...time for some volleyball and other activities. And the day was perfectly beautiful, they couldn't have asked for a better one. PRAY for our church young people as they prepare for a special day on June 25th to reach some of their unsaved friends and family!
Since it has been so long since we posted any news, the simplest thing would be to include the highlights during the month of May. On April 28 I flew to São José to help David & Sharon move to their newly-constructed house, only a few blocks from the one they'd been living in for the past 2 years. I was there for one week. On May 16 there was a "Musical Chapel" at the Bible college and most of the 28 students participated in one form or another. You can hear samples of some of the music by clicking on this link: "Programa Musical na Capela" Four days later a music recital was also performed. Oh, we do love music! To hear some of that, click here. At our church there were two deaths, within five days, of family and acquaintances of our members. This sadness was mixed with the joy of welcoming a newborn baby! And..."Foggy Mornings Are Here Again"! We have come full circle since I posted that blog 13 months ago. I kind of like the eerie beauty of these mornings, don't you?
It's been awhile since we've taken the time to post news, do forgive us! Don't know where the time goes around here... At one point we were delayed for several minutes... ...because of this accident 5 or 6 kilometers in front of us. We finally turned onto the dirt road that led to Imbuial, a small farming community out in "the boonies". We were excited to see the new church and really liked what we saw there on our left... ...a very beautiful wooden building! Next we went to the house just behind it where a group of 30+ people from the 1st Baptist Church in Portão were gathered to help celebrate the occasion. Here are more scenes from the day... Preparations being made... Scenes from the inauguration service. What a blessing! Forgive our posting so many photos but...we had so many photos to post. *smile*
|
Archives
May 2014
Categories
All
|